As Lâ€™Equipe summed up the moment of madness with a headline of â€œRegrets Ã‰ternelsâ€, a day of endless questioning began. With many conflicting versions of events circling on the internet and in the worldâ€™s media, The Times enlisted the help of an expert lip reader, Jessica Rees, to determine the precise nature of the dialogue that caused Zidane to react in such a manner.

After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed that Materazzi called Zidane â€œthe son of a terrorist whoreâ€ before adding â€œso just f*** offâ€ for good measure, supporting the natural assumption that the Frenchman must have been grievously insulted. As the son of two Algerian immigrants, the 34-year-old is proud of his North African roots, dedicating Franceâ€™s 1998 World Cup win to â€œall Algerians who are proud of their flag and all those who have made sacrifices for their family but who have never abandoned their own cultureâ€, so such a slur would certainly explain, if not justify, his violent response.

When asked about the allegations on his return to Rome, Materazzi issued a vehement denial, while sources close to the player emphasised that he had not been accused of racism before, pointing to his close friendship with Obafemi Martins, the Nigeria and Inter Milan striker. â€œIt is absolutely not true,â€ Materazzi said. â€œI did not call him a terrorist. Iâ€™m ignorant. I donâ€™t even know what the word means. The whole world saw what happened on live TV.â€

As legendary former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson noted on his radio program yesterday evening, there’s simply no excuse for Zidane’s actions because no one gets to be a star athlete without his teammates making big sacrifices. Essentially, the others feed him the ball, passing up their own shots, for the good of the team trusting that the star will come through. Zidane’s selfishness would be inexcusable even if his opponent said what the lip reader claims he said.

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Comments

ER actually Zindane was the guy who fed others the ball, passing up his own shots, for the good of the team trusting that the stars will come through. That’s what made him so brilliant. But a multimillionare who has little to worry about should be down right ashamed of himself for getting taken in by and idiot like Materazzi and he should completely regret what he did. He doesn’t and so each hours falls further into disgrace. He called Materazzi the perpetrator………what a twisted and spoiled view France have given this man of himself.